Cantilever building construction



March 10, 1925. 1,529,516

A. T.'THORNE CANTILEVER BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Nov. 11,191 9 Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

U NI 'l'fE D STA PATENT OFFICE.

CANTILEVER BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed. November 11,"1919,"Seria1 No. 337,304. Renewed.October 7, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER THOMSON THonNn, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing at Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa and Stateof Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCantilever Building Construction, of which the following is aspecification.

Theprimary object of this invention isthe provision of a system ofconstruction for building, by which the builder may dispense withconsiderableportion of materials otherwise necessary and a large amountof labor, especially in the'foundations, with a consequent decrease inexpense, by so relating the various parts of the building that valuablephysical properties inherent in various elements of thebuilding, arebrought into use, which properties, in the usual plan for buildings, arenot as fully utilized, and as afurther consequence, large and smallbuildings may be easily and quickly erected, upon a strong foundation,at less cost and with increased strength.

The principle involved in my system of building construction is that ofa cantilever beam, continuous over two or more supports,

and preferably so arranged that the floor members will support a greaterload than simple beams over thesame area, orthe same load over a greaterarea, and so arranged that the Weight of the ceiling, roof and othersuperstructure, is carried by the foundation and interior walls orcolumns of the building, with a consequence that outer Walls may bealtogether omitted, or designed, as desired, for porches, sun parlors,etc., and if constructed, they become simple curtain walls, carrying noload other than their own weight, at a considerable saving of expense.The weight of such curtain walls may be supported by the floorconstruction or preferably, suspended from the roof or superstructure,or by'a combination of thesetwo methods. In other words, the principleis two-fold. As to the foundation, the floor members in one method ofutilizing my invention are themselves cantilevers and are supported byother cantilever members which support greater weightfor the same sizebeam, or the same load on a larger span. In another method of utilizingthe first-principle of myiinvention, the first floor construction iscomposed of cantilever members supported directly on the foundationalls;

secondly, inf one method ofutilizing-the secports.

0nd principle of my invention, the entire weight of the roof orsuperstructure is borne by the foundation and interior Walls=*andcolumns of the house, preferably -without carrying'any of the-load onthefioor construction and relieving from theouter walls, all stress ofsupporting the upper stories, superstructures, and roof members, therebypermitting glass or light exterior curtain walls, oromittingthementirely-.. In another method of utilizing my invention,especially where the foundation walls-are used across the ends, theouter end wallsmay be used to support part or all of the superstructure,preferablywithoutallowing any of the load to be carried by the firstfloor construction. My invention consists of utilizing either one, orboth, of these principles of construction. For a small building thefoundation consists of two parallel rows of supports such-as posts, ortwo continuous walls, where three:

rows or walls are now generally required,

thereby greatly diminishing the expense as ends are not necessary withthis'system, but

may be usedin connection with it, to'i-nclose basements, cellars,area-ways, etc., moreover, in my system of building construction, theparallel rows of's'upports, or parallel foundation walls, need not bespaced as far apart as the Width of the building, and therefore, even ifend walls are used, considerable expense for material and labor issaved.

In this method of construction, the floor is securely laid upon thecantilever members, which constitute the floor joists, and by reason ofthe cantilever construction, the floor is less likely to warp or sag.The interior walls, columnspor other supports, which will carry all ofthe weight of the roof or superstructure, are placed directly over the;foundation walls or rows of sup- The weight thereof maybe carried by thefloor members, but preferably the columns, uprights, r other memberswhich are to carry the weight ofthe superstructure,

will be carried directly to thefoundation members throughnecessary.holes in the Vfioor. In other Words, such columns ands-pthe foundation.

In like manner, f my invention amay" be so adapted, that the roof orceiling beams may be similarly fulcrumed on, or secured to, theuprights, interior walls, or columns extending to the foundation walls,and additional stories or superstructures may also be carried on thesame columns. In each instance, the uprights, or interior walls orcolumns of the building carry the entire weight of the ceiling, roof,superstructure, or additional stories. The outside walls carry onlytheir own weight.

The invention is therefore adapted to roof construction as well as floorconstruction.

One method of utilizing my invention, especially in a wood framebuilding, saves considerably more labor by reason of the fact that partsof the structure are so arranged that standard commercial lengths andsizes of material may be used in the work, as they come direct from thedealer, without the necessity of cutting forlengths or squaring theends. These lengths may be utilized by appropriate method of joining(splicing) so that a continuous cantilever beam is created without thenecessity of squaring the ends.

Similarly the entire invention is adaptable for many kinds of materialin construction and may be of timber or may be fire-proof throughout, orof any combination of suitable building material.

With these general objects in view, and others that will become apparentas the nature of the invention is better understood, the followingdescription is given:

My invention consists in the novel form, combination, construction andarrangement, of the elements and parts of buildings, above referred to,and hereinafter more fully described and then claimed.

In the drawings, forming a part of this application and in which likereference characters designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views, Figure 1 shows a horizontal sectional view through abuilding construction formed after the manner of my invention with thefloor 14 removed. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the buildingshown in Figure 1, and taken upon the line 2-2 of Fig. 3. Figure 3 is avertical section of the same structure as Figure 2 taken upon the line3-3 of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of a dif- "ferentmanner of carrying out the invention.

In the said drawings, the earth is represented by 11, foundation wallsby the numeral 10, foundation posts by 10*, upright columns or posts by15, interior walls by 19, end walls by 24, side walls by 23, roofmembers by 18 (and 22 in Fig. 4) beams by 12, 12 13, 16 and 21, and theflooring by 14.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, my invention primarilyconsists in the provision of two or more parallel foundation walls '10in Figure 4, or parallel rows of foundation posts such as concreteblocks 10 in the other figures, firmly mounted on or sunk in the earth11. The posts 10 when used will preferably be rectangular on horizontalsection with the larger dimensions running in the same directions as thecantilever beams 12 as in Figure 1.

In this method of utilizing my invention, the said foundation posts 10with the cantilever beams 12 mounted thereon, as shown in Figure 1, willbe the equivalent of continuous foundation walls such as 10, in Figure4, and said foundation walls 10 in Figure 4, or combination offoundation posts Y 10 and cantilever beams 12, constitute, and arehereinafter referred to as, the founda tion members.

Cantilever beams 13, traverse the tops of the said foundation members,(10, or 10 l and 12 and extend outward so that the free ends of the saidbeams 13, are some distance outward of, and beyond the said foundationmembers. The said cantilever beams 13, when material such as wood, isused, constitute the floor joists for supporting the flooring 14, and,when such material as concrete is used may be integral with the floor,and may be used in the same horizontal plane with the cantilever beams12*, instead of being mounted thereon, when the building materialrenders such construction desirable.

The said foundation walls 10 or foundation posts 10 with cantilever beam12 mounted thereon, will preferably be so spaced as to give the maximumstrength to the floor "joists 13, when used as cantilevers, but saidfoundation members 10, 10 and 12 may be brought closer together, orspaced further apart, as may be desirable in the building operation.

In the drawings, only two parallel rows of foundation posts 10, inFigure 1, are shown. For convenience in building, where a largerfoundation is desirable, more than two rows may be employed. In suchcase, the beams will be mounted on such additional foundation members inthe manner described above, with floor joists placed thereon andextending beyond the area outlined by the foundation members in whichevent, the floor joists become the cantilever members which embrace thespirit of this invention. Or in the event of construction with suchmaterial as reinforced concrete, such cantilever members may be integralwith the floor which will extend outward and beyond the area outlined bythe said foundation members.

Uprights or columns 15 are preferably mounted directly upon thefoundation walls or posts by any appropriate building method, or, theymay be placed upon the cantileverobeams 12 or 13 by any appropriatemethod of building construction.

Referring now to the second principle of my invention; in one method ofutilizing same, these columns 15 will carry the entire weight of allupper-stories, superstructures, or roof, as the case may be. Theinterior walls 19 may be curtain walls, supporting no weight, excepttheir own, or may be omitted as desired, or the weight of theupper-stories, roof, or superstructure may be distributed along thelength of the foundation members by such interior walls 19 andappropriate spacing of uprights or columns 15.

The said uprights or columns 15 support the upper beams 16 incantilevered position upon their respective summits, or, at any desiredheight, by a joint, appropriately adapted to the reception of a ceiling17, and the roof 18, as in the case of the one-story buildings shown inthe figures. In the case of a building of more than one-story, theweight of the second floor and others, if desired, will be cantileveredat the desired height upon the several upright posts or columns 15, byany appropriate building method, and the weight of additional stories,superstructures, or roof members will be carried by increasing thelength of these uprights or columns. The floor of such upper-stories, ifany, will be cantilevered in the manner first above described for thefloor of the first story, by the use of cantilever beams 16 and floorjoists mounted transversely thereon, in the same manner andcorresponding with the cantilever beams 12 and floor joists 13 in thefirst floor, or in the use of such building material as reinforcedconcrete, such cantilever beams and posts may be integral with the floorin the same horizontal plane, and extending beyond the area outlined bythe uprights or columns 15.

The side walls 23, and the end walls 24, or either of them, may beentirely omitted, as in the case of porches, or may be curtain walls oflight construction, for the reason that no weight will be carried bythem except their own. Such walls 23, may preferably be suspended fromthe roof or superstructure members, as shown in Figures 2 and a, or maybe supported from below, or a combination of these two methods may beemployed.

In another method of utilizing my invention, especially where foundationwalls are used across the ends of the building, the end walls 24, may beused to support part or all of the superstructure in conjunction with,

or independently of, interior walls 19, or columns 15 without changingthe method of first floor construction.

In Figure a, I have illustrated an interior wall 19 supported above thefoundation wall 10 with the ceiling 21 mounted after the manner of acantilever, upon the Wall 19, supporting the roof member 22. Interiorwalls such as 19 may be employed instead of columns 15, in thestructures shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings.

lVhile the forms of the invention herein described are believed to bethe preferable embodiments thereof, it is understood that minor changesmay be made in the form, combination and arrangement of the partswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a building, a plurality of spaced sets of foundation piers, mainfloor beams each extending across the tops of a set of the foundationpiers and projecting at its ends beyond the end piers of the set, floorjoists resting on and extending across the main floor beams and havingtheir ends terminating outwardly of the main floor beams,

side walls depending adjacent said main floor beams and floor joist-s atthe extremities thereof, vertical posts supported by said foundationpiers, beams connecting the upper ends of said posts, roof joistscarried by said beams, and a roof supported on said roof joists andhaving its outer portions carrying said side walls.

2. In a building, a plurality of spaced sets of foundation piers, mainfloor beams each extending across the tops of a set of the foundationpiers and projecting at its ends beyond the end piers of the set, floorjoists resting on and extending across the main floor beams, and havingtheir ends terminating outwardly of the main floor beams, a floorcarried by said floor joists, vertical posts supported by saidfoundation piers, beams connecting the upper ends of said posts, roofjoists carried by said beams, a roof supported on said roof joists, sidewalls carried jointly by said roof joists and by said floor joists, endwalls and interior walls supported by the floor joists main floor beams.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ALEXANDER THOMSON THORNE.

